Matanzas Creek Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

That’s a mouthful! And it sure is. I picked this bottle up (and its two siblings hanging out in the wine cooler) when I worked for Matanzas Creek back in 2010. I thought that this wine was very young then and I still think that is true today, although it has done some nice maturing.

The fruit is from Jackson Family’s vineyard in Knights Valley. The valley is named for Thomas Knight who bought (or more likely took) a large portion of the valley following the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma, which he was a part of. The valley sits between Chalk Hill to the south and Alexander Valley to the north. The grapes sit in a west-facing slope to allow for optimal sun exposure. This also leads to good, ripe fruit in all but the coolest of years.

Color: Ruby red rim shows no sign of age at this point.

Aroma: The nose is a little closed until the wine has received significant amounts of air, but contains notes of blackberry, cassis, holiday spice and mocha.

Flavor: On the scale of ‘big’ Cabernet’s this would fall in the medium category with flavors of dried cherry, pomegranate and cocoa. With some aging this wine will develop more character.

Finish: Clean and dry with good length to it. Leaves your mouth with a pleasant after-taste making you want to take another sip.

Matanzas Creek is best known for the Chardonnay and Merlot that was produced there during the 1980’s and 90’s, but there are some other stunning varietals coming out of there like this one and their Sauvignon Blancs. I look forward to drinking the other two I have in the cellar sometime in the future.

I think I’ll wait 1-2 years before tasting another one and see where it is. I probably wouln’t go more than 10 years total of aging. Only the biggest of Cabs can see 10-15 years and in rare cases 20 years of aging.